South L.A. Food Diaries: South L.A. native brings family restaurant into digital age

For most college students, the thought of operating their own restaurant at age 22 is daunting.  But Alexis Uriel Navarrete, a junior at California State Polytechnic University Pomona and owner of Salvadoran eatery La Flor Blanca, sees it as an exciting challenge.

The restaurant, which is located on Jefferson Boulevard, is ornamented distinctly. On one side, framed photos of the ocean run along its interior and on the other, there are depictions of historic destinations in El Salvador, like Tazumal and Monumento al Divino Salvador del Mundo. The blue and gray walls have been a part of Navarrete’s life since he started cleaning them at only eight years old, a task he believes taught him responsibility.  

Fourteen years later, Navarrete inherited La Flor Blanca following his father’s retirement and set out to run the business with an eye for modernization.

“It was almost like I got the baton,” Navarrete said, adjusting the collar of his button-down shirt. “I got my stick in the marathon race and it was my turn.” His formal attire juxtaposes his youthful enthusiasm through hand gestures and the gleam in his eyes when he talks about La Flor Blanca.

Navarrete finds a way to simultaneously express both his wisdom and enthusiasm — a balance evident in the steps he has taken to bring the restaurant into the digital age.

Since taking over, Navarrete revamped La Flor Blanca’s business and marketing strategy to help the restaurant expand its customer base. He saw the establishment’s long history as an asset: La Flor Blanca’s Jefferson location has existed since 1999, and another location on Vernon Avenue owned by Navarrete’s uncle has been around since the early ’90s.

Navarrete believes that technology could take the restaurant to new heights.

“[My family] built their base without social media,” Navarrete said. “Now imagine what I can do with just a little bit of marketing here and there, using Facebook advertisements and things like that. I could attract a different kind of clientele and introduce them to food that they never would’ve tasted before.”

By expanding La Flor Blanca’s social media presence with the handle

@la.flor.blanca on Facebook and Instagram, Navarrete hopes to attract Latin American immigrants who crave food from their youth, as well as connect with new customers who are unfamiliar with Salvadoran fare. He aims to introduce as many Angelenos as possible to the culture of El Salvador through its cuisine.

“This is more than just food,” Navarrete said. “This is our identity … We’re a very small country but we have a big story to tell.”

This story, for Navarrete, is represented by pupusas: stuffed tortillas made out of corn flour and classically stuffed with cheese, meat and beans. Navarrete said that the simplicity of pupusas plays a big role in Salvadoran culture.

“[Pupusas are] the people’s food,” Navarrete said. “We’re very humble people: We’re very happy and we’re not greedy. That’s the message behind the pupusa itself.”

Though he is studying business administration with an emphasis in marketing, much of Navarrete’s knowledge about running La Flor Blanca stems from real-world experience rather than what he learned in the classroom.

“You’re never really ready for your call of duty … no matter how much you study, no matter what your GPA is, no matter what classes you take, and no matter how many business books you’ve read,” Navarrete said. “None of that taught me what I learned in the past two months of working in this restaurant because the true secret about running any business is knowing how to manage people. [Getting people] to work together and to have the same vision you have is by far the hardest thing.”

Navarrete pointed out that to execute this vision, he has to treat every goal like a midterm: by setting deadlines, which turn ideas into action. Having the mindset of a student helps Navarrete run La Flor Blanca — as does being raised in the United States, Navarrete said. His perspective on running a restaurant

business differs from that of his father, who left El Salvador in the 1980s during the country’s civil war.

“[Owners like my dad] know what poverty feels like and they know that aiming for riches isn’t what they really want because they’re okay with the way things are right now,” Navarrete said. “They know that by growing it’s going be a bigger risk. But I’m a different person because I have a vision and a drive that I can’t get out of my head.”

Over the past few months, Navarrete has put his passion and ambition into action, upgrading La Flor Blanca in ways both small and large — from retaking menu pictures to rethinking the supply chain. As a result, he’s enjoyed seeing a new crop of customers coming into the restaurant with their families.

“Out of all the restaurants in Los Angeles, I truly find it an honor when a father or mother decides to bring their kids here,” Navarrete said. “It’s heartwarming … Deciding to share an experience of eating right here is beautiful, and making sure I continue that and grow that is my mission.”